asion served to bring his name very widely
before the people. He took the opportunity to speak upon local politics.
He mentioned that he had not the least doubt that the lecturer's
intentions were good and honest. The lecture consisted of all the funny
stories Mr Leach could remember concerning his visit to London; these he
gave in his well-known quaint style, in broad dialect, and the progress
was frequently interrupted by the hilarity of the audience. Mr Holden, I
can say, was quite "flabbergasted" with the affair, and he looked as if
he would have liked to drop through the stage. For the second night's
lecture there was no Mr Holden to preside. It was now Mr Leach's turn to
be uneasy. He sought diligently for a chairman. The audience proposed
Bill o' th' Hoylus End, as being Mr Leach's right-hand man; but the
lecturer objected, saying Bill would most likely be "drukken." Finally,
Mr Emanuel Teasdale, a politician of the old school of Radicals, took the
chair. After a political speech from the chairman, Mr Leach continued his
lecture with the same general acceptance, and to an audience quite as
large as that of the previous evening. On the third and concluding night,
Mr Leach had even greater difficulty in securing a chairman. There was
neither Mr Holden nor Mr Emanuel Teasdale. The audience successively
proposed "Bawk" (the parish pinder), "Doad o' Tibs" (bill poster), Jacky
Moore (town's crier), Bill Spink, and others. The lecturer objected to
each of these, and, in despair, accepted Bill o' th' Hoylus End. I
officiated as best I could, and I utter no untruth in saying that I had a
good deal to do; for I had to undertake the greater share in entertaining
the large number of people present. Mr Leach had well nigh exhausted his
stock of lecture "material" on the second evening, and on the third night
I had to fill up the time with telling stories and giving recitations. It
can be truly said that the three lectures were regarded as a great treat
by those who heard them.

MR LEACH'S FUNERAL SERMONS

Perhaps the "funeral sermons" which Mr Leach preached on his two wives in
the early part of 1891 were as funny as the London lectures. Mr Leach
said I should have to be his chairman at the "sermons," but when the day
came he said he would do without me, as he "durst bet ah'd bin hevin'
whiskey." I went to the Temperance Hall, but was told by
Police-superintendent Grayson, who was there with two constables, that he
had